For Whom the Bell Tolls

On Friday morning, Izzy tried to give himself a concussion. Or maybe just a black eye. I spent a hot minute Googling whether horses can be concussed and discovered that yes, they can experience concussion, but traumatic brain injury is quite uncommon. Interested in the topic? Check out this article by Equus. TBI or not, Izzy did take quite a blow to his noggin.

Photo "borrowed" from Equus. I added the extra bit.

We all know that Izzy is an ask questions later kind of guy. He doesn't always think his decisions through very clearly, and on occasion, he has been known to make questionable life choices. Friday was one of those moments. As I've done on more than one occasion, I climbed into Izzy's feeder to clean out some weedy hay and other leftovers. He came over to assist, nibbling at my neck and grabbing onto my shirt tails. When he got tired of me, he walked over to the gate, ready to go play. When I climbed out of the feed bin, I smacked my hands together as I beat off the dust.  

Whether it was the clapping noise my hands made or something else all together, Izzy whirled and bolted straight through his shelter. I am not sure how he missed me in his flight of terror, but thankfully, I walked away unscathed. He did not. As he charged between the two poles, he threw his head up and whacked himself right between the eyes on the bottom edge of the cross bar that supports the roof. 

​I heard a loud clang followed by stampeding hooves. To say I was a bit startled would be an understatement. After cringing, I blew out an exasperated breath. Now what? If isn't ten things, it's another 4,876. I watched as Izzy threw an out and out fit. He bucked. He stomped his feet. He threw himself to the ground rolling vigorously. If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought conking his melon caused him to colic.

When he seemed a little more quiet - no sense in both of us having a near death experience, I walked up to him to try and check him out. Izzy loves to nuzzle and gently lip me, but his nips tried to become well-aimed bites. I gave his nose a quick smack out of self defense which sent him off on another bucking fit. I decided he needed a few minutes on his own for my safety if no one else's.

​The ranch owner and I stood outside the fence next to the barn watching him. She didn't want me going anywhere near him as he seemed almost dangerous. I agreed. Within just a few minutes though, I could see that he was settling down. When I went and put his halter on, he hung his head rather sheepishly. I pulled off his fly mask and saw a very thin scratch right between his eyes. It wasn't even bleeding. I was worried that he would develop a huge goose egg, but he never did.

It's not like he's short on space.

I walked him out onto the lawn where he enthusiastically began to chomp grass. I pulled out my cell phone and gave CC, Izzy's body worker, a quick call to explain what had happened. As I knew he would, CC explained that looking at him right after an incident wouldn't be wise. If there were to be any swelling or trauma, we would need to let it subside first before trying to do an adjustment. CC said he'd come down on Tuesday to look Izzy over.

In the meantime, he suggested I ride the next day to see what we had which I did. I had a lesson on Saturday and explained to Sean Cunningham, owner and trainer at STC Dressage, what had happened so that he would be prepared if my ride went south suddenly. Other than being mindful that Izzy might be a bit sore, we were able to do a regular lesson. I rode him again on both Sunday and Monday, and he was quiet and workmanlike.

Please be more careful.

As promised, CC came out on Tuesday. The visit took all of ten minutes, and most of it was spent telling CC what had happened. Izzy was actually in great shape, he needed just a bit of work at his C7 and one or two ribs, but those are his regular spots, so we weren't concerned. Considering he whacked his head squarely in the middle of his forehead while bolting, I am grateful that he's no worse for wear.

If you wanted to hear bells ringing, horse, you could have just asked.